Martin Luther King's era was followed by the tide of racial pride, solidarity, separatism and even racial nationalism. The slogan "Be proud of your race", first formulated by Garvey as early as 1910, was picked up in the 1930s by the Black Muslims and used until 1970s.
W.D. Farah Muhammed, who initiated the movement, ingrained into his followers the sense of separateness and racial superiority. The Black Muslims coined the phrase "Black Is Beautiful" which changed the blacks' attitude both to themselves and to the whites. The Black Muslims believed that the universally known religious opposition of good and evil is expressed in the contrast of black and white. A black man was the first inhabitant of the Earth, and the white man was the embodiment of a devil incap
able of any good deeds. The devils enslaved the black and robbed them of their identity. The ultimate fight between good and evil will take place on the territory of America. The result of the fight will be the failure of a white devil and the return of a black man to the Paradise on Earth. In order to succeed, the black must preserve his separateness and must feel self-respect. Moreover, he must live in ascetism and be separate from slavery customs. As the blacks are beyond the process of assimilation, which took over all ethnic groups in America, they must find their own symbols, religion and individual culture. Turning to Islam, the Black Muslims rejected American ideals as well as Christianity, and decided to accept and enliven the African symbols.
Arguing for the necessity of quick changes, they refrained from radical actions. Leaving the Black Muslims in 1964, Malcolm X became the first radical negro leader who officially rejected passive resistance and who justified violence.
His radicalism combined with separatism became assimilated by Black Power, the movement of the 1960. They insisted on proportional participation of the Blacks in administrating the country, and demanded control over gettoes as well as supervision of education and social security programs. In fact, Black Power demanded black government over Black America.
Even more radical the Black Panthers directed their actions against racism. Another enemy they discovered was the "black capitalist system". Their idea of organizing Negro trade unions which would co-operate with the white workers appeared the most dangerous to the American establishment.
Hence in response to those tendencies the Ku Klux Klan and American fasists escalated anti Negro actions.
Since none of the earlier programs proved successful, the 1970s faced the necessity of finding another solution to the problem. One of the concepts, advocated by Toni Morrison among others, is that of peace, tolerant separateness of races.
About the Black Panthers written by Herminne Tonita for FamousWhy.com
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